Drunk Tramplers and Dirty Children

I have been very lazy about this writing thing and I haven't told you anything about what has been happening during the last month, but I am sure you are pretending you know everything and read on as if all is fine and dandy

I just came out of a nice relaxed weekend that started Friday evening with a couple that clearly had too much Soju. I am not sure what the problem was as my Korean sucks big time, but the dude was quite made at the dudette and then decided to go trample the little patch of land next to my place. Lucky they only trampled the ground and not the produce.

The first time I noticed something was when I heard loud voices outside. I live on the third floor, so I was able to look down onto the spectacle. The guy was clearly drunk and was pulling an unwilling girl along into the field for whatever reason his drunken mind could conjure up. What disturbed me was that he at one point actually hit her. As much as I wanted to help, I knew it would make little difference and I will get into more trouble than either of them because I am the foreigner in the small city.

At one point the guy left, then returned with some strange idea of pulling her in to a ditch next to us. I was watching this and if he did actually take her there I would have gone to fetch help. No telling what the hell he wanted to do there. There was something that sounded like sex (it was dark and I couldn't see clearly) more talking, shouting, leaving and returning. Eventually the guy wanted to take the girl back to their car, but she was acting all dead and refused to go along. At this point I think she was just being childish. Just go and get out of there. The guy had clearly calmed down and wanted to end everything for the night.

But enough of that story. It would take quite some writing to tell you everything in detail. This was just a quick rundown.

Saturday I went to replenish my food supplies. After the shopping I had to wait for the bus and decided to have something to eat. I ate very slowly at McDonald's, and wasted a lot of time 'cause the bus would only be there in about 45 minutes. While there I saw this boy that looked quite hyper active and just acting strangely. I was wondering why his parents didn't tell him to calm down or something. Basically everyone was ignoring him, even though he would sometimes look at someone and talk to them. I didn't look too closely, so I have no idea who he was talking to.

Later, at the bus stop, he turns up and just acted very strangely again. At this point I started noticing more about him, such as his clothing. His clothes were very dirty, his face hadn't been washed in days and his shoes were about 4 sizes to big for him. He sounded like a horse when he walked. Honestly! When the number 8 bus stopped, he kept on talking to someone on the inside, even though we were sitting inside a little glass box waiting for our bus. There was no-one to hear or maybe even look at him.

When the next number 8 arrived, he got up and it seemed as if he wanted to get on, but then looked at the driver, answered a question and then come back. Then he started coming into the glass box, and going out again, he basically kept up this strange behavior for quit a while. I honestly think he might be a homeless boy with not all of his peanuts in the packet. A little sad and disturbing, I think.

Some of you might know Citibank. I think it is a US bank, and one of the larger banks - they have one here as well. The nice thing is that the Koreans pronounce it "Sheety" Bank. It provides a bit of entertainment when the advert of the bank comes up.

Talking of adverts - There is one about something called "Cash & Rush", but in the song they keep in saying Cashee and Rushee. This is a real Korean pronunciation, but I think it might be done for the sake of the music. When teaching, I often stop and ask people to repeat words after me, because if the word ends in -sh, then it is inevitable that someone will add a -ee, so, "I hide behind the Bushee". I think I should start making a list of these things so that I can catch them before they do it.

Something along that topic is me being a local TV Star. I have to do a show that is broadcast every Wednesday morning. Think of it as TV lessons for the whole school. The first two were live, and that didn't turn out to great. I keep on loosing sound because the mike needs do be right against my mouth for me to be audible. The possible solution is to record it on another day and then broadcast it on Wednesday morning. Better for me because that means I don't have to wake up so early.

Lastly, I went for a walk over Ari Mountain. It is the mountain behind my place, or next to the school, or however you want to see it. It is very nice and quiet. I was trying to find a different route on to it and found possible entrance, but there were all kind of signs a little way in and I still have to try and translate it. I don't want to be somewhere I am not supposed to be. Along that path is something that looks like a shrine, so maybe I might be treading on holy ground or something.

Well then. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is a holiday and some of the schools are closed on Thursday as well. I am in one of those nice schools. So I think I will go to Seoul for the day. I will read my guide on the bus and make my final decision as to where I want to go and what to do.

Until next time then.
Annyonghasaeyo

*Please note that the statements in this Blog are not intended to make anyone look bad. I do not look down on Koreans. I'm merely describing how amusing I sometimes find people and I am mostly describing it to other westerners. Feel free to come to South Africa and tell the world how crazy we are because heaven knows, we are.